AMERICAN
SUPPORT FOR FOOTBALL STEADILY GROWINGAs fans and players, Americans begining to share in
sport's global appeal

By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer

Each year brings
increased American interest and new growth to the ranks of U.S. players
and fans addicted to the excitement of football, known in the United
States as soccer.

According to a survey
conducted by the Sporting Goods Manufacturer’s Association (SGMA) in
2004, football is the only major sport that has seen its U.S. participation
grow since 1987. The survey indicated that nearly 16 million Americans
played football in 2004, and that it was one of only two team sports
to show a net increase of players during its 17 years of data collection.

Major League Soccer
(MLS), the U.S. professional men’s football league, started in 1996
with 10 teams, and has since expanded to 12. Five of those teams either
are in the midst of construction or in the planning stages of building
new stadiums specifically for football. April 1 marks the start of the
10th MLS season, which will culminate in an October championship match.

FOOTBALL "SLOWLY SEEPING" INTO AMERICAN CULTURE

In Washington, football
fans, dressed in European team jerseys, gather at 9 a.m. on a weekend
morning to watch live international matches via satellite, shouting
at the TV screens, and downing beverages at places like the Lucky Bar.
The owner, Welsh-born Paul Lusty, began showing games on the pub's large-screen
televisions in 1996, focusing at first on major European tournaments,
and now catering to most of the world’s major football leagues.

Despite the interest
in international matches, Lusty says, “I don’t think that, for the most
part, the United States has fallen in love with soccer yet,” noting
that most of the patrons that particular morning were not native-born
Americans, but he said, “we’re getting there. … It’s slowly seeping
into the American culture.”

Of his patrons,
he says, “It’s a great pleasure to see all those people very vocal,
cheering, and passionate, watching those games here. And you know, when
you step back outside that door, you’re back in the United States and
it’s a completely different atmosphere again.”

On a business trip
to London in 1984, Charlie Kapp asked his hotel bellman to suggest a
good match, and the recommendation led him to Arsenal against Queens
Park Rangers. “I’ve been an Arsenal fan ever since,” he said.

Sitting beside him
is Josh Vaughan, whose interest began at age 14 when the United States
hosted the World Cup in 1994. “The first game that really hooked me
was our 1-0 loss to Brazil in round 16. It was such an exciting game,
and we only lost by a goal. I actually thought we did pretty well, and
so from there on out I’ve been watching ever since,” he said.

Lusty expects to
host large crowds when the World Cup games air in June. He remembers
in 2002 when the games were held in Japan and South Korea, “We were
opening up at 5:30 in the morning and we had lines at 5 a.m. in the
morning right around [the street] corner to get in.”

“The interest in
the World Cup is just phenomenal – like no other sport really. I mean
who’s getting up at 5:30 a.m. to watch a soccer match, right?” he asks.

One Lucky Bar regular,
Mark Ames, says the game is “gorgeous to watch when it’s played well.”
Ames has been following football for most of his life, starting from
age 12 when he played in American youth leagues. Now he can speak with
impressive expertise about European player statistics and team rankings.

“When you’re a little
kid, everybody plays, and I think that’s the beauty of it,” he said.
“It’s so easy to play. You just get a big field and put a couple of
sweaters down as goal posts. You don’t need a lot of special equipment.
You just need a ball and some sneakers.”

INTRAMURAL
LEAGUES POPULAR AMONG CHILDREN, ADULTS

According to data
from US Youth Soccer, more than 3 million American children between
the ages of 5 and 19 are registered to play on teams all over the country.
The sport has shown itself to be so popular that the term “soccer mom”
was coined to describe women transporting their school-age children
to practices and games.

Reaching adulthood
does not mean that soccer players must hang up their cleats and resign
themselves only to watching the games.

Thirty-six-year-old
Scott Fallon loves football so much that he plays on three adult co-ed
teams in an Arlington, Virginia-based league, despite a full-time job,
a canoeing hobby, and moonlight work as a guitarist.

“Nothing prepares
you for playing soccer. You might think you’re in great shape, but the
running you do -- the amount of stopping, sprinting, running, I mean
everything -- you have to be in peak physical condition to play,” Fallon
said.

He adds that intramural
soccer is so popular that there are more than 40 leagues in the Washington
area, and it can be hard to secure a spot on a team. “You really need
to sign up the second it comes out. I mean, they fill up so fast that
it’s almost impossible to get in.”

Fallon says his
participation has increased his respect for the game. He also said he
is impressed with the skills shown by his female teammates.

“Back in high school,
my 16-year-old select team beat a [girl’s] varsity high school team
7-0. That’s definitely not the case these days. The girls can really
play,” he said.

Fallon’s intramural
league occasionally plays teams from Mexico, and the American side can
hold its own, he says, showing that previous strong performances of
the U.S. team in the World Cup were “not a fluke.”

“Soccer is catching
on. Better U.S. athletes are playing and they’re better trained than
they were 10 years ago,” he said.

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